


Four Times Grant Ward Missed an Opportunity and One Time He Didn't

by Kallimax



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-07 19:57:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1123775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kallimax/pseuds/Kallimax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>or "A Series of Very Awkward Conversations" in which Ward is terrible at talking and also emotions</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times Grant Ward Missed an Opportunity and One Time He Didn't

1.

Ward walked into the lounge after a workout and found the opening credits of a movie playing. Skye and FitzSimmons were sprawled out on the couches. They all glanced up when he entered.

Skye and Simmons smiled. “Hello, Ward,” Simmons said. “Done with your exercises?”

“He’s never done,” Skye said. “He’d stay in there all day if he could.”

Ward frowned because that wasn’t strictly true. He just liked to be prepared, that was all, and that meant keeping up on his workout routine.

“She didn’t mean it,” Fitz said. Skye protested that she did, and Fitz threw a piece of popcorn at her from the bowl on his lap. Skye stuck her tongue out and threw the piece of popcorn back.

Simmons sighed and shook her head, but an affectionate smile graced her lips. She looked over at Ward then patted the spot on the couch next to her. “Care to join us?”

He looked at Skye and Fitz laughing and Simmons smiling up at him, and he really, really wanted to. Even if it meant potentially getting hit by a flying popcorn projectile.

“Oh,” Fitz exclaimed suddenly. “Be quiet. It’s starting.”

Simmons patted the spot next to her again. Ward thought she looked hopeful, but he stood still, frozen. He wasn’t even sure what stopped him. They had invited him. They wanted him there, and he wanted to be there, so what was the problem?

He continued to stand there as the minutes passed, and the movie played on. Simmons turned away to watch it.

Ward didn’t stay very long after that. He wasn’t frozen anymore, and he beat a hasty retreat. He didn’t see the worried glance Simmons cast at Fitz, who shrugged but had on a worried glance of his own.

When Ward walked through the lounge later, FitzSimmons and Skye were still there, but they’d switched movies and Coulson and May had joined them. Ward stood there for a moment, trying to figure out if there was still room on the couch.

“Ward,” Coulson said when he spotted him.

“Sir,” Ward replied. He gave a brief nod and left the room. He was pretty sure there wasn’t a spot for him on the couch anyway. He should’ve joined Skye and FitzSimmons earlier when he had the chance.

Eventually he found himself back at his workout. It took every ounce of control he had not to take his frustration out on the punching bag, and he still ended up hitting it harder than usual.

 -----

2.

The kitchen area was a mess, boxes and food strewn all over the place. He could hear FitzSimmons babbling, but he couldn’t see them. He thought he should probably leave before he found them. Whatever it was they were doing with the food, he didn’t think he wanted to know in case they were experimenting on it in some way.

But before he could act on the impulse, FitzSimmons popped up from behind the counter, arguing between themselves. Fitz stopped talking as soon as he saw Ward, and Simmons came to a stop a few seconds later. She turned to Ward and gave him a bright smile. Fitz sort of smiled too, and that was when Ward really started to worry.

“Oh, hello, Ward,” Simmons said, and she sounded just a little too eager for Ward to relax. She turned to look at Fitz. “You know we could really use–”

“–his help,” Fitz continued. “I agree.”

Simmons turned back to Ward. “What do you like to eat?” They both looked far too interested in his answer.

So he chose not to answer. “Why?” he asked instead.

“Well, you see, Fitz told me about your ration bars,” Simmons said.

“Horrid, horrid ration bars,” Fitz interjected.

Simmons nodded. “Right. He told me about your horrid, horrid ration bars, and then we decided to fix them.”

“So they were even a tiny bit tasty,” Fitz said.

“But we don’t know what to make them taste like,” Simmons said, “so we need to know what you like to eat.”

Ward promptly forgot every single thing he had ever eaten in his life, but FitzSimmons was looking at him so expectantly. “I, um, I like the ration bars.”

FitzSimmons’ faces fell in tandem. “What?” Fitz exclaimed “They literally taste like nothing. No, worse than nothing. Cardboard. They taste like cardboard. And cardboard is not for eating. Cardboard is–”

“Fitz,” Simmons interrupted. “I think he gets it.”

“Sorry,” Fitz muttered. “But cardboard…”

Simmons smiled across at Ward. “It’s fine. You can just come to the store with us and pick something out.”

This situation was getting very complicated very quickly. Ward could barely keep up with FitzSimmons when they were confined to the Bus. But outside in the real word? And they’d be asking him all kinds of questions, he just knew, about what kind of foods he preferred and whether he liked this or that. There was no way he could do that. “Can’t you go without me?” he asked.

Simmons frowned, but it was Fitz that answered. “Well, yeah,” he said, “but since it’s for you…”

“It would just make more sense if you were there,” Simmons finished.

“I can’t go,” Ward said. He hadn’t really meant to say it out loud, but once he had, he couldn’t take it back.

“Can’t or won’t?” Fitz asked, and Ward could hear the anger in his voice.

“Fitz,” Simmons admonished. She fixed an obviously fake smile on her face. “It’s perfectly fine. You don’t have to come, Ward.”

Ward nodded, trying not to change his mind because of their twin disappointed expressions.

“We’ll let you know what we buy,” Simmons said.

“Or you could just come with us,” Fitz muttered.

Ward ignored Fitz and his own gut, which was screaming at him that he was making a mistake. He nodded at Simmons again and escaped from the room.

Later, he tried not to be too upset with his decision when he saw FitzSimmons leaving for the store with Skye.

 -----

3.

Ward always got up early. Fitz and Skye were late sleepers, and Coulson and May were usually up and working, even at this hour. Most of the time, Ward had breakfast alone, but occasionally, Simmons joined him. This morning was one of those mornings.

It was rare to see Simmons without Fitz at her side, or at the very least, nearby. She was different when he wasn’t there, more tentative, quieter. It wouldn’t be obvious to most people, but with only six people on the Bus, they ran into each other a lot.

Simmons smiled at him when she entered the lounge and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. After she’d gotten her breakfast and first cup of tea of the day, she sat down across from him, and they ate in silence for several minutes.

But Ward was watching Simmons, and he wanted to say something, anything. He hadn’t meant to upset either her or Fitz, first with the movie and then the store. He didn’t think they blamed him exactly, and they were treating him any differently. He just wanted them to know. “Simmons,” he said.

At the exact same moment, Simmons said, “Ward.” They both stopped talking immediately, and Simmons gave a little laugh. “Go on,” she said.

Ward shook his head. “You first. I insist.”

“Never mind,” Simmons said with another smile and a shake of her head.

“Never mind for me too,” Ward said. They ate in silence again for a few minutes, this time much less comfortable. Ward spent most of the time cursing himself. He wanted to apologize, so why couldn’t he do that?

Simmons finished eating much more quickly that Ward expected her to, and she practically bolted out of her seat afterward.

Ward grimaced. Now he had something else to apologize for. He trailed Simmons over to the dishwasher. She put the dishes away and turned back for his, glancing quickly up at his face then away. Her fingers brushed across his as she took his bowl, and he was surprised by how good it felt.

“Simmons,” he blurted suddenly. He intended to apologize. For everything he’d done and for everything he was sure he’d mess up in the future. But Skye chose that exact moment to stumble in.

Ward immediately took a step backward and straightened up. He looked everywhere but at Simmons, hoping his usually observant rookie wouldn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. He was pretty sure the fact that she was still half-asleep worked in his favor.

“I’ll be ready for training in a few minutes,” Skye grumbled as she grabbed a mug of coffee and left again.

Ward turned back to Simmons, but the moment was gone. He was tongue-tied yet again.

She smiled brightly at him anyway. “It was nice eating breakfast with you,” she said, and she brushed past him on the way out of the room.

His skin tingled at the brief contact, but in spite of that upside, Ward spent the rest of the day wishing he could have summoned up the nerve to apologize.

 -----

4.

Everyone on the Bus tended to keep odd hours. It was a side effect of a job where people often tried to kill you. Sometimes it was hard to sleep.

Not that Ward would ever admit he had trouble sleeping after difficult missions to anyone. On the nights he couldn’t sleep, he simply slipped out of his room and tried to wear himself out hitting the punching bag. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t.

It was on one of those nights, coming back from a productive session with the bag, that he ran into Fitz.

Fitz, too, was different without his other half, but where Simmons was more subdued, Fitz’s nerves seemed to spiral out of control, leaving him even more jumpy and anxious than normal.

They passed each other in the hallway, Fitz leaving his room and Ward returning to his. Not paying attention as he walked and muttering something about needing to recalibrate the dwarfs, Fitz almost bumped into Ward. “Sorry,” he said absently.

Fitz had done well on the recent mission. He was getting better at the missions. They all were. And Ward knew that when you appreciated someone’s work in the field, you should tell them. The problem was he didn’t know what to say.

Fitz was already a fair distance away when Ward called after him. “Wait!” He was only half-conscious of the word as it left his mouth.

Fitz froze. He turned around slowly, looking left and right. It took long enough that Ward had time to regret speaking at all. When Fitz finally made it all the way around, he gestured toward himself and mouthed, “Me?” Which was just ridiculous because clearly, there wasn’t anyone else in the corridor.

Ward walked down the hall toward Fitz, who looked like he might bolt at the slightest provocation. Ward tried to focus on being nonthreatening, but judging by the way Fitz watched him warily, he didn’t think he was succeeding.

Ward kept staring down at Fitz, unsure of what to say exactly. He wanted to say thanks, wanted to tell Fitz he’d done a good job, but he couldn’t get the words out, the sentences wouldn’t form.

“Yeah?” Fitz finally asked when the silence stretched too long. “What did you want?” He didn’t seem so nervous anymore, more annoyed, angry.

Ward took a step back, shook his head, but Fitz wouldn’t let him go. Fitz stepped forward. “No,” he said, “you wanted to say something. What was it?”

Ward shook his head again. “Sorry,” he muttered.

Fitz sighed. “You interrupted my train of thought,” he said. “Can’t remember where I was.”

“The dwarfs,” Ward said.

Fitz stared at him for a second, blinking. “Of course,” he said, “but what exactly? You messed it all up.”

Ward now thoroughly regretted saying anything. He didn’t even know why he’d done it in the first place. Of course he shouldn’t have interrupted Fitz while he was working. That had been stupid. “I’m sorry,” he said again. He could barely hear the words.

Suddenly Fitz backed down, took a step backward. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll figure it out.”

Ward nodded. They both stood there for a few more moments, neither looking at the other. Now it was Ward who wanted to run.

“Well, uh,” Fitz said, gesturing back down the hallway. “I’ll just– Are sure there was nothing you wanted to say?”

Ward nodded quickly and tried not to be too upset by the disappointment on Fitz’s face. He couldn’t say anything now, not even anything good about Fitz’s performance in the field.

Finally Fitz gave him a small smile and left. Ward escaped into his room where he could finally breathe. He didn’t get much more sleep that night, worrying over the entire conversation.

 -----

5.

There was a knock on Ward’s door, and when he went to answer it, he found himself faced with an unusually serious FitzSimmons. Simmons smiled, but it was a dim facsimile of her usual bright grin. “Can we come in?” she asked.

Ward moved aside to let them in before he even thought about it. Once they were actually in the room, door shut behind them, he had time to wonder if this had been a good idea.

“We have something to ask you,” Fitz said.

“Fitz,” Simmons murmured, “you’ll scare him.” She looked up at Ward and flashed him a nervous smile. “But, um, Fitz is right. We have something to ask you.”

Ward couldn’t imagine what it could be, what they would want to ask him. He stared at them. The minutes ticked by in silence.

Finally, Simmons spoke up, “Would that be all right with you? If we asked you something?”

He wanted to say yes, to find out what it was FitzSimmons wanted to ask, but the word wouldn’t leave his lips.

“See, Simmons,” Fitz said. “I told you he wouldn’t be interested.”

“Give him a chance, Fitz,” Simmons said. She smiled at Ward, this grin brighter. “Well?”

It took him another few minutes, during which Simmons watched him expectantly and Fitz didn’t look at him at all, but finally he managed to get the word out, just the one, but it was enough. “Yes,” Ward breathed, and Simmons’s smile instantly went up few notches.

“See, I told you,” Simmons said.

At the exact same time, Fitz asked, “Yes what?”

Simmons smacked Fitz’s arm softly, and Fitz made a face at her. “You know what,” she said. “Yes, we can ask him something.”

They looked at each other, apparently sharing one of their telepathic communications because just when Ward was about to demand to know what was going on, they both blurted at the same time, “Do you want to sleep with us?”

Ward was dumbfounded. “What?” he asked.

“Do you want–” Fitz started.

“–to sleep with us?” Simmons finished.

Ward looked at Simmons, whose smile was now so bright, it was almost blinding. “Both of you?” he asked.

“Yes,” Fitz answered.

Ward turned to look at Fitz. “At the same time?” he asked.

“Yes,” Simmons answered.

Ward stared at them both. They stared eagerly back at him. He couldn’t say anything.

“You don’t have to,” Fitz said.

“We just thought–” Simmons started.

“–it might be fun,” Fitz finished.

“And that you might want to,” Simmons said. “We tried to give you subtle hints – the movie, the ration bars, breakfast…”

“That night in the hall,” Fitz put in.

Simmons nodded. “Oh, yes,” she agreed. “But you never seemed to… grasp our meaning, shall we say?”

“So we thought a direct approach might be best,” Fitz said.

Ward just kept staring at them. Those were supposed to be hints? And of what exactly? How would this even work? “Give me a minute,” he finally said.

Simmons looked pleased, but Fitz said, “You don’t have to.”

Simmons rolled her eyes. “You said that already.”

“Well, it’s true,” Fitz said.

Ward could tell this was about to very quickly devolve into one of FitzSimmons’ many arguments, and he didn’t want that. He wanted them, he wanted to take them up on their offer, he wanted… “Okay,” he said, loudly enough to cut through FitzSimmons’ tension. “We can talk about it.”

“Great,” Fitz said.

“Fabulous,” Simmons said at the exact same time.

They both grinned at him with the same eagerness they gave to experiments, and Ward said, “Talk. I said we could talk.”

“Of course,” FitzSimmons said in unison.

“We can talk,” Simmons added.

“We can’t make out a little first?” Fitz whined. They both turned puppy dog eyes on Ward.

Ward sighed, but this time, he didn’t even try to resist what his gut was telling him, what he knew he wanted. “I guess,” he said. “Maybe just a little bit.” They both grinned at him, and Ward was glad he’d finally managed to say exactly what he needed to.


End file.
